Sidonia Swarm, UG in School of Business, Entrepreneurship/Nutrition major, Marketing Minor; Brigid Mahoney, UG in CAS, INS Major, Modern Languages Minor
A school sponsored weekend trip to the Balkans during a semester at URome sparked Brigid Mahoney and Sidonia Swarm’s interest in Croatia. Within the next two months, the girls returned to Croatia on a free weekend. Upon their return to Miami in fall of 2012, the girls decided to apply for DILS to learn Croatia because they were certain they would return to Croatia in the near future. Considering Miami and the surrounding area does not have a strong eastern European influence finding a Croatian teacher was a challenge. Luckily, DILS coordinated a program with a language teacher based out of Washington DC. The girls’ Croatian teacher, Jadranka, originally from Croatia immigrated to the D.C. area to teacher American foreign diplomats.
After a semester in DILS, Brigid Mahoney and Sidonia Swarm returned to Croatia for a month of traveling and an opportunity to practice a semester of Croatian lessons. The girls traveled the coast and explored the Dalmatian Islands with a strong understanding of their language thanks to DILS.
DILS Croatian class has given Brigid and Sidonia a strong base in the Slavic languages which will assist their Czech language study during their participation in the spring in UPrague.
"We are overwhelmingly appreciative University of Miami has given us an opportunity to learn any language we choose. The program has been incredible. We adore our teacher and appreciate the flexibility in which DILS allows us to learn." – Sidonia and Brigid
